A/N Again, I own nothing. These characters are, mostly, Joss Whedon's creation. The newbie characters, however, are all products of my own twisted imagination.

Chapter 10-Back in Black

Angel had just killed two of the smaller Gruhock demons. Ilyria was fighting a large, armor covered Saro Demon. Charles Gunn was trying to swing his ax one handed but was quickly bleeding out and getting weaker. Ilyria had positioned herself between the demons and Gunn. Spike was fighting off three Trolkof Demons. All four in the alley were fading in the wake of the onslaught from the legions of hell. On the roof, the four observers watched the scene in horrified fascination.

"How the bloody hell did we last this long?" Spike whispered.

"Watching Gunn…this is killing me not doing something…" Faith turned away.

"Faith, we need your eyes. Gunn fought hard. You can't do anything to help him now." Angel stood next to her and he placed his hand in the small of her back to turn her around. When she looked back on the scene below, her fists clenched so tightly her knuckles were white.

"Angel, the last thing you remembered was slaying the dragon. How did you do that?" Chandra spoke without taking her eyes off of the scene below. That the two men standing next to her were still alive was a miracle.

"I started up that fire escape on the Hyperion." he said pointing it out across the alley. "It flew low and I sliced off it's head." Angel risked a brief glance at Chandra before returning his eyes to the hordes of demons. "Why?"

"Because that's the last thing you remember doing and you're getting ready to do it now." Sure enough, Angel was jumping onto the second floor fire escape and running up the stairs.

"Keep your eye on Ilyria," said Angel. "Whatever is going to happen has to happen soon."

Just then, Chandra saw Ilyria standing alone. The Old One stood facing the hordes of demons, her arms up with her palms facing them.

"Ok, the dragon is dead." The building rumbled as the demon's massive body crashed below.

"It fell between us and the army. It blocked them." Spike frowned. "I don't remember this."

"Look at Ilyria." Angel whispered, staring down. Ilyria's body was radiating a blue light. "She's going to explode."

"And take out half the city with her." Spike finished.

"And we're standing in the middle of it." Angel grabbed Faith and Spike picked up Chandra and they both started running. They jumped quickly to the next building and didn't slow down.

"Stop! We need to see where she's going!" Chandra struggled to get out of Spike's grip but he wouldn't let her go.

"If we stay there, we are in the middle of a bloody atomic explosion."

"You both survived before! I'm a slayer! Faith is a slayer! We need to be there."

Faith finally wrenched her way out of Angel's arms and ran back to Spike. She punched him and he let go of Chandra. Both slayers jumped back to the next building and ran to the edge of the roof to see….

The blue light flashed, the explosion deafened them. The shockwave knocked everyone off their feet. Spike had one glimpse of Chandra and Faith, lying on the roof, not moving, before he felt the building give out from under him.

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Angel woke to the rain on his face. If was still dark and the smell of sulfur still lingered. He felt someone approach him.

"Spike…"

"Why are you here?" He opened his eyes. Ilyria looked down on him. "You are in two places at once. You are an abomination. Why are you here?" The Old One stared at him.

"Ilyria, what happened?"

"I showed the Wolf, Ram and Hart that I am still ruler of this world." She looked slowly over her shoulder and then back to Angel. "They will not return so long as I exist here." She leaned over and pulled him to his feet.

"Gunn is dead. Wesley is dead. You and Spike are alive over there." She pointed across the alley where Angel could see and hear Spike, the Spike from the past, digging through the wreckage of the Hyperion. She turned her head to face Angel again and did not release her hold on him. "How are you here as well?"

Angel looked into her face and for a brief moment remembered Fred. "You did this." Ilyria cocked her head and lifted her chin before finally releasing Angel.

"Yes. I stopped the hordes of vermin that crawled the streets." She stepped towards Angel. "You are not the same. You are not of this place." She stepped back. "You have moved through time. Where did you learn this magic?" Angel started to answer when he hard Spike call out to him.

"Angel! I need your help! I've got Faith and Chandra here!" Angel ran past Ilyria to where Spike was digging through bricks and pieces of roofing. Angel could see an arm and dark hair. He could smell the blood.

"Oh god, Faith." He pulled section of roof off of the slayer and picked her up. "She's breathing!" There was a deep gash on her head and her lip was swollen. He checked her over and it didn't appear that she had broken any bones. She groaned softly.

"Faith, come on. Wake up." She frowned and moved her head. "That's a girl. Come on…." The rain was washing the dirt and blood from her face. He heard Ilyria move quietly behind him.

"Your friend will live. Her heart is still strong." She looked down at Faith. "She is not from this time. I do not know her. She wasn't here before." Faith opened her eyes and groaned.

"Angel…"

"Hey Faith. How are you feeling?"

"Five by five boss." She tried to sit up on her own but Angel kept her down.

"Don't move too much Faith. You hit your head pretty good."

Spike was still digging in the wreckage. Angel saw a flash of bloody blond hair and heard Spike cry out.

"No, Chandra! No!" He brought her over by Faith and Angel. "Is she breathing? I can't tell…" Angel had only seen Spike really panic once before and that had been last night when Buffy stabbed Chandra. Angel reached over and felt her throat. He felt a pulse. Suddenly, she coughed and brought her hand up to her head.

"I told you…we had to see…"

"You know, you have to stop trying to leave me doll. All you're doing is making sure that I stay closer to you." Chandra grimaced.

"I owe D'Hoffryn for that one. When I saw that brick wall falling on me, I thought I was dead. Probably would have been if I were still fully human." She looked over.

"Faith…"

"Right here sister. It's all good." Faith looked over at Ilyria. "I think we found what we're looking for." Ilyria walked over to Chandra and knelt beside her.

"You. You are a demon." She grabbed Chandra by the throat and pulled her off the ground. "Tell why I should not kill you where you stand." Spike dove at Ilyria, knocking her over and Chandra fell back to the ground.

"Ilyria wait." Angel got to his feet. "You want to know how we got here? She brought us here." He pointed down to Chandra. "Yes, she is a demon but she's on our side." Ilyria stared down at her.

"She is not from this time. I do not understand." Ilyria turned to see the Spike and Angel from her time.

"Gunn is dead," they heard Spike tell Angel. "I don't know where Ilyria is."

"What happened? Why did they stop?" Angel appeared disoriented.

"Don't know mate. I went flying through the air and that's all I know."

"Let's get out of here before someone comes back to finish the job. Then we can figure out what's going on." Spike and Angel ran up the street. Ilyria started to follow and then stopped.

"They are looking for me and yet you are here."

"Ilyria, we came back from the future to find you." Angel looked down at Faith who was slowly getting to her feet. "In our time, in the future, the Darkness is coming."

Ilyria snapped her head around to face him.

"I was born of the Darkness. Then it began killing the gods of my world. We bound it's powers and buried it in the Deeper Well." She looked from Spike to Angel. "Who released it?"

"The bloody Powers That Be. Something about the balance of the universe being thrown off when Wolfram and Hart scurried away with their tails between their legs." Spike was looking to the east. "Can we move this discussion indoors? Because Angel and I will be crispy critters in about fifteen minutes."

"Ilyria," Chandra approached her cautiously. "We need to know how to stop it. Can you help us?" The demon god faced her.

"You must show me this magic you have. I smell power in your blood. Yet, your body reeks with the stench of humanity." Ilyria approached her. "How did you come to possess this power?" Spike frowned and stepped protectively towards Chandra. Ilyria turned her focus on him.

"Spike. You have feelings for this one. You stand over her as if to protect her from harm." She moved closer. "You have mated with her recently."

"Ilyria, is this really relevant..." Angel shook his head. "Look we need you to help us. The Darkness is loose and we don't know what it will do and you are the only creature in this world that has successfully defeated it."

"It's too late. I have been drained. I must return to the Deeper Well. My tomb is my strength and I cannot fight any longer. I must sleep." She looked at the four of them. "Look for me in your time. Perhaps I will be ready then." She turned and jumped from the rubble, disappearing from sight. Angel ran after her but she was already gone.

"So we go back to the Deeper Well then. This is terrific." Spike frowned and looked at Chandra. "Ready to get us home then love?" She nodded, the four of them joined hands and shimmered out just as the first rays of sunshine hit the place where they had stood.

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Chandra was in the shower washing the blood and dirt from her body and hair. The hot water loosened her muscles and helped to dull the headache that was forming. All for nothing, she thought. It was all for nothing. Angel had called Giles when they had returned with the news on Ilyria and where she might be found. Giles had told him that he had received word that the Deeper Well had collapsed in on itself five years before. They deduced that Ilyria, in an attempt to return to her resting place, had destroyed the well. Giles said that he would have a team of mystics sent to the well's former location to see if they could sense any power emanating from the site. They were back in a holding pattern. Giles told them to sit tight, wait for his call and be on their guard. A team of slayers in Albania had just been killed by a creature that could assume many shapes and moved like smoke. Willow had been watching through one of the girls' eyes and had felt it when each of the slayers were ripped limb from limb. She was in bed, recovering from the trauma.

Chandra punched the shower wall. She was furious. She wanted to hurt something, someone. She didn't know if it was her demon side coming out or the knowledge that her sister slayers were dead.

"You alright in there love?" Spike poked his head in the bathroom. When she said that she needed a shower, Chandra had hoped that he would join her but, when they got back to his apartment, he had only kissed her before taking off his dirty shirt and going to the kitchen for his blood.

"I'm fine." She hissed between clenched teeth. She was far from fine. She was pissed. At him, at Angel, at Giles, at fucking everyone at this point. Giles was none to happy to hear that Chandra was now a vengeance demon and had flat out refused to speak to her on the phone until he had "discussed the matter with the team." She was sure Buffy would be all too eager to fly back and take Chandra out now and she hoped that the skinny ass blond bitch would try it.

"Hey, what's wrong?" Spike opened the shower door and looked at Chandra with concern.

"What could possibly be wrong Spike? We are up against a creature we have no way of defeating, my former watcher is mad that I have become a demon, even though he knows full well that I am on his side, my daughter is in another dimension and I have no idea if I will see her again." The tears of anger and frustration that had been building finally spilled over. "And you treat me like I'm made of glass. You wouldn't touch me once we got here. It's like you're disgusted with me too. That I made this decision to help out the team and now I'm being punished by everyone!" She moved to shut the shower door but he hung on, his face moving from concern to anger.

"Now wait a minute. I care about you and I don't want to see you hurt. I know you can take care of yourself but that doesn't mean that I can't try to take care of you as well and if you don't like that, too bad. Get used to it." The anger faded from his face and was replaced by his smirk. His blue eyes lit up as he looked her up and down. "As for not wanting you, well love, you've got another think coming." In one move, he turned off the water and picked her up and carried her, naked, back to his room where he promptly dropped her on the bed.

"Spike! Your bed will get all wet!"

His blue eyes were mischievous. "That's kind of the idea pet." He proceeded to kiss her down her neck, across her breasts and to her stomach. Then he stopped and lay next to her looking down at her. "What are you thinking?"

Her eyes narrowed but her smile intensified. "Do you want me to tell you or show you?" She ran her hand over his bare chest and fingered the button on his pants.

"I'd prefer the showing, if you don't mind. Just go easy on the trousers love. I only have one more pair."

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A/N: I was about to add in a dose of lemonade. I even had a nice steamy piece written but I couldn't make it fit. It seemed too gratuitous. Don't worry though, if you're looking for more of that. We're just getting started. Besides, some things are better left to the imagination.